Serious Question about ReadyLift 3.5Ē kit

Iím gonna give you my opinion on this. Not trying to take anything away from the spacer type lifts. Ronís is one of my favorite trucks of all the FTE members here. But I would look closely at a complete system built by one company and packaged and sold as a complete unit. They are designed to work together and youíre almost guaranteed to get a better ride and a better handling truck than in stock form. A complete lift kit should have a dropped pitman arm, new adjustable track bar, new radius arms that rotate your axle properly and eliminate the need for the low hanging radius arm brackets, new longer coils that will ride smoother yet still allow for heavy towing and also bump stock extensions. A lift kit like this is going to allow your truck to flex better and is going to have less problems in the long run. If your kit doesnít come with new rear leafs then it should contain a taller replacement block with the correct pinion angle already built in and possibly add-a-leafs to raise the rear. For just a little more money you can get a lot more quality and less headache. Check out Zone off-roads 4Ē lift kit. Sounds like that is what you would need to run 35s with the option to go 37s. Do it right the 1st time

first of all thanks for much for your opinion, all points of view are appreciated.

Concerns with this is that I have read their shocks arenít that great and the fox upgraded shocks they offer are not truely a fox but some different manufacturer.

Also the track bar that comes with it is not adjustable. So I would have to add $500 for the fox shocks and then about $375 for an adjustable track bar. So I am paying for a kit that comes with shocks and a track bar that I wonít be using. So I would be about $1800 into this kit after adding the above items plus the carrier bearing drop kit and steering stabilizer. Plus the add a leaf (I forgot about the add a leaf) for about $100 and Iím at $1900. Not sure if they will sell the kit without the shocks and solid track bar? If they would then this might be a possible more cost effective option.

Dont really have any concerns with this kit because I think everything included is a complete kit and everything I would need. This kit has the Fox 2.0 shocks and adjustable track bar. I did not add extended brake lines or the rear anti sway bar link kit. Is this something I would need?

So all that being said after talking with Ron and seeing his truck it made me change my thought process. Especially since I will not be doing any real off roading just mainly street driving and towing. I figured I could save some cash and still accomplish the look and performance I wanted. So after all that is now stated you think a full lift kit is the better setup for my needs? Also since no major off roading is planned are radius arms really necessary?

I definitely want to do it right because I have been down that road before (had a mustang cobra that I cut the springs on to lower instead of getting a new lowering kit which I eventually ended up doing)I just didnít realize the spacer kit was not considered doing it right. Again I appreciate the insight!

I couldn't agree more, and I previously recommended the zone kit. You touched on one of my big concerns, and that's coil length and rate. Some of these kits sacrifice the coil rate. No doubt the spacer lift is a budget lift. I spent quite a bit, but was on a budget, and the lift was what I sacrificed on. I still recommend the ready lift kit if you can't swing the coin for a GOOD full blown kit. It does everything it is suppose to do without any ill effects, on the street at least.

I can swing the higher cost of a full kit if need be I just donít want to spend it if itís not necessary for my needs. If I was going off roading a full lift kit would definitely be what I was looking for but since that wonít be in my future I thought the spacer lift was a good option. I mean this is the most expensive vehicle I have ever owned so donít want to cheap out on the suspension or do it the wrong way. So you think the full kit is the way to go?

Like I said, the readylift will do everything it's suppose to do and leave you with a factory like ride. Would it be nice to have upgraded shocks? Sure. Everyone knows the factory shocks suck on these trucks, even the fx4. Would it be nice to have new rear spring packs to eliminate axle wrap in off-road situations, sure. But my blocks are only an inch taller than a factory f350 block. Sure would be nice to eliminate that on a factory f350 if you are going to wheel a $30k+++ truck. Would it be nice to have longer radius arms so the radius arm drop brackets don't hang down? Yep. But the step bars conceal most of this. And I'm going to run step bars regardless, because there's plenty of other crap that hangs down on these trucks that they hide. In my opinion, these trucks don't look good without some sort of step bar. Point being, are you getting a better lift by buying one of those high dollar kits... yes. Are you going to benefit from those advantages... I guess that depends on how you use your truck. Are they worth those advantages... that depends on who you ask. Nothing wrong with either. They both have their perks. My extent of off roading in this truck is some fire roads with some mild creek crossings in the mountains. And I still work it regularly towing a travel trailer that grosses @10k when loaded, a s185 bobcat gets pulled on occasion, along with a mid size tractor. It serves its purpose there, and still does a good job driving me to work and picking up the kids with a readylift kit on it. My $1600+ tires have over 22k miles on them and are wearing perfect. It can cruises on the interstate with one hand on the wheel, with no pulling, darting or vibrations.

To be completely honest here, I don't think you need 3.5" if you only going to run 35s. Going with a smaller lift will alleviate a lot of the concerns you have. Anything under 2.5" shouldn't require radius arms, or a trackbar/trackbar relocation bracket unless you just want to add them. You can buy 2.5" spacers, or 2.5" coils for the front depending on which you want. The rear will need at least 4" blocks to make it level which are standard on some of the F350s. You will remove your 2" rear blocks and replace them with the 4". The type of driving you described above (limited off roading, factory towing capabilities, factory ride) makes me think that buying a full kit may not be your best route. I'm pretty sure you aren't jumping your truck in the dunes or rock crawling it. Don't take this the wrong way, I AM NOT TELLING YOU TO GO CHEAP, just be reasonable. People will tell you that a full kit is always better, and that is correct in some cases i.e. Currie lifts for jeeps, but for your uses, spending 600-1000 seems a little unreasonable. For example, rear lift blocks from ready lift, aren't going to be much different than rear lift blocks from BDS. If you go with spacers, they all do the exact same thing. They may look a little different, or be made of different material, but in the end, they do the exact same thing. Coils are a different story, some are better than others. I don't see why you can't buy the ready lift 4" rear blocks, and source yourself a set of good coils or even spacers for the front and it will serve all the needs that you require.

If these trucks were designed with serious offroad capabilities in mind, then I would be telling you yes, buy a 3000 dollar full kit from one company, but they are designed as work horses, not play toys.

As far as shocks go. I have ran bilstein shocks on almost all of my vehicles and they are the best shock that I have ran, but I know that Fox are considered the best. I'm not jumping my truck in the dunes, so there isn't any need for me to buy shocks that are the performance level of the Fox shocks. But, here again, don't go cheap. I know for a fact that you get what you pay for with shocks.

I just want to thank everyone for all their help and insight. I am still undecided but have setup a few ride/test drives over the next 2 weeks.

1st is a 2013 with a 3.5” ReadyLift
2nd is a 2015 with a 4” BDS lift
3rd is a 2012 with a 2.5” Carli lift (anxious to see if they live up to the hype)
4th is a 2013 with a 3” Rough Country lift (am curious to see if thy are s bad as everyone says they are)

Hopefully after riding in these setups I will be able to make up my mind. I will report back after I ride in them!

If they don't let you drive, pay attention to the steering wheel and how much the driver has to correct/fight it. Tire choice and conditions plays as big of a factor as anything, so consider that while checking them out.

If they don't let you drive, pay attention to the steering wheel and how much the driver has to correct/fight it. Tire choice and conditions plays as big of a factor as anything, so consider that while checking them out.

I plan on getting all the specs of the lift especially if it is different than what the lift package includes. I will also get the wheel and tire specs. Thanks for that idea!

The test rides will definitely make the decision for you. I've bought some rough country components in the past, and they weren't terrible, but they are too many options out there to just simply settle.

So over the weekend and New Years holiday i was able to test drive 2 lift setups. My impressions are below.

I may leave out some specs or details and if you have a question about something let me know and i will see if i have it in my notes.

2013 with a 3” Rough Country kit with Fox 2.0 Shocks with Nitto TerraRidge tires 35x12.5.x20 (popular
Honestly with all of the negatives i have heard about RC I was excited to see if it was really as bad as everyone says.
I was presently surprised with the ride and road manners of the RC however the owner said before he went with the Fox shocks the ride was not ideal at all. He said once he pot the 2.0’s on it really made the ride what it is today. So obviously a big take away immediately is that shocks are a key component to a good ride. He did get a set of 4” rear blocks from ReadyLift since the RC comes with 2’ blocks you are supposed to stack on the rear stock blocks.
I honestly felt that the ride was just as good as stock and from the driving characteristics had no idea i was driving a lifted truck. Took it over some rougher back dirt roads and it handled them great, much better than my stock setup.
During the drive the handling was just as good as stock (he did have a Fox dual steering stabilizer) and their was zero vibration or steering wheel wandering.

No by no means am i a suspension aficionado but i have had several lifted jeeps and this thing drove better than all of them and i had some money into those setups. So this being my first test drive with the noted underdog i was pleasantly surprised and the bar was set really high IMO for the better systems to come. Just so happens the next setup I drove was the king of the hill Carli Setup.

Now this being the stud of the 4 lifts i am going to be testing and the RC having drove it the day before setting the bar pretty high i was ready to be blown away! Now unfortunately i was not, which is not to say that the ride or handling was bad at all. I was just expecting i guess something leaps and bounds better than the RC ride. It was definitely better than my stock setup but definitely did not see anything Far superior above the RC to justify his just over $4500 cost on his setup compared to the RC with Fox shocks costing him around $1300.
We took it over the same back roads as the RC and it performed just as good maybe slightly better but not major noticeable. He did say that his setup was not great for towing because it really sagged in the rear and mentioned something he would do if he towed on a regular basis but I cannot remember what exactly, i think he mentioned air bags.

So far between the two that i drove i am hands down (will probably get flamed for this)a fan of the RC setup. Purely because i dont see the benefits of the extra cost for the Carli System atleast for me. Now this test obviously doesn’t speak for the longevity of the systems which may be where RC falls short? I dont know if over time i will see issues with the quality of the RC components failing down the road? Any insight you guys have is appreciated. The RC setup was only about 1 year old and the Carli setup was just 6 months old.

Again please feel free to comment or ask questions. Hopefully will get to check out the ReadyLift and BDS lift in a few days.

So I was able to test out the 2013 with the 3.5” ReadyLift. It had Fox 2.0 shocks with 35x12.5x20 Falken Wildpeak A/T tires.

So this seemed like a really nice setup and like I said with the RC kit it seems that the shocks are what make the lift. The ride felt very stock like with no disernable negative feedback. I did notice that when going over the rougher dirt roads it was not as smooth as the RC or Carli. Not sure if that’s because the ReadyLift is on spacers instead of having springs like the other lifts I tested but that was the only drawback I saw. I did notice that there was a little bit more road noise but that was probably due to the tires.?

So the one thing I have realized is that so far between the Carli, Rough Country and ReadyLift, I am leaning towards lower end kits. That’s not to say Carli isn’t a great setup but I can’t justify the higher cost of the Carli kit since I personally can’t tell much of a difference in the ride quality compared to the RC or ReadyLift.

So the last lift I get to test is the BDS and hopefully that will happen tomorrow!

The test rides will definitely make the decision for you. I've bought some rough country components in the past, and they weren't terrible, but they are too many options out there to just simply settle.

Could you elaborate a little on the RC parts you have used and why the quality isnít considered as good as some other brand lifts. Do they use bad metal or have poor welds?

I had some rough country stuff on my jeeps. Coils, spacers, control arms, sway bar drop links, etc. None of it was absolutely terrible except for the control arms. Their arms just did not compare to other brands. Thin metal, terrible design, weak joints, etc. They may have improved now, but back then they were junk. The control arms are irrelevant for our trucks except for the front radius arms, but rough country's radius arms look pretty stout from what I can tell from the website. As far as the jeeps went, RC was a good starting point and then you could replace components with better stuff as you went along. That is the route that I took with my last TJ, and even then when I had completed all of its lift mods, it still had the RC coils along with a lot of currie components, and bilstien shocks. I never had any issues with their coils and I put upwards of 30k miles on them when I had that jeep.

Their kit for the super duty trucks looks pretty good from what I can tell in the pictures. I have no experience with it on an actually truck though so my experience with RC may be completely different than someone elses.

Well i was finally able to drive the 2015 with the 4” BDS lift with 2.0 Fox shocks and fox dual steering stabilizer He once again had 35x12.5.x20 Nitto Ridge Grapplers.

So this one rode really nice as well and i can only attribute this to the Fox shocks. Every single lift setup that i tested out all had the Fox 2.0 shocks. I know that Carli tunes their shocks for their system as does BDS but with the Fox shocks on the RC and ReadyLift they are not tuned to those specific lifts and they also rode great.

Like the other lifts the BDS had great road manners with no wandering or fighting the steering wheel. Cornering was stable and it felt very balanced. When we rode through the rougher dirt roads it handled them really well like the RC and Carli. The ReadyLift was the only one that i thought didn’t handle the dirt roads as good as the complete system with springs but by no means would i consider it a bad ride just a little rougher.

So this being my final system that i am going to test. I have many thoughts and am trying to determine which setup is best for my needs.

Honestly i am sure the Carli system is a great setup but for my needs and from testing i just cannot justify the money that they want for the system. (His setup was just under $4500)So I have for sure eliminated this option from my choices.

So the final 3 being the 4” BDS, 3.5” ReadyLift and 3”Rough country they are all when it comes to price very close considering whichever one setup i get i will install with Fox 2.0 shocks so price will not be a deciding factor. That being said I think the ReadyLift is going to be the next eliminated because if the pricing for the 3 remaining kits are all about the same I think getting a kit without the front springs wouldn’t be a smart option.

That just leaves the 3” Rough Country and 4” BDS

Rough Country Cons: The only con i can think of is really kind of a guess which is what kind of life will i get out of the rough country components? Is there build quality up to par or will the springs sag over time, or do they use quality steel? These are all questions i dont have answers to and i just have to wonder about because they are priced so much cheaper than other lifts.

Rough Country Pros: I really like the look of the truck with a 3” lift and 35” tires. To my eye it is the perfect proportion on the F250. Looks are a primary reason for the lift but i dont want to have to revisit this down the road in a year or 2 because the springs are sagging or something broke because of an inferior product.

BDS Cons: Its 4” and this wouldn’t be an issue if it wasn’t a work truck. My concern for this is will the 4” be worse for towing? Also i am not sure i want to deal with loading and unloading the bed with an extra 4” of lift. Plus just my opinion i felt that the 35” tires were a little small for my taste on the 4” lift and think they would look better with a 37” tire.

BDS Pros: It sounds like they have a killer warranty that would be nice to have and give me some peace of mid about any warranty issues if they were to arise

So that’s where i am at guys, i would really appreciate your input and help if you could to help me decided between the RC and BDS lifts. Thanks

I had some rough country stuff on my jeeps. Coils, spacers, control arms, sway bar drop links, etc. None of it was absolutely terrible except for the control arms. Their arms just did not compare to other brands. Thin metal, terrible design, weak joints, etc. They may have improved now, but back then they were junk. The control arms are irrelevant for our trucks except for the front radius arms, but rough country's radius arms look pretty stout from what I can tell from the website. As far as the jeeps went, RC was a good starting point and then you could replace components with better stuff as you went along. That is the route that I took with my last TJ, and even then when I had completed all of its lift mods, it still had the RC coils along with a lot of currie components, and bilstien shocks. I never had any issues with their coils and I put upwards of 30k miles on them when I had that jeep.

Their kit for the super duty trucks looks pretty good from what I can tell in the pictures. I have no experience with it on an actually truck though so my experience with RC may be completely different than someone elses.

Thanks for the insight! I know from what i have read on RC that they used to have a real issue with quality control but it sounds as though over the years they have really come a long way on their build quality.